In Response to Re: I can't believe we didn't draft a pass rusher!! : Benny was a FA and tagged, Faulk injured, Morris cut. That leaves who? Woodhead. Ingram was injured and not great as Ridley stats were better. The D was ranked 31st in yards allowed which is not last. They were middle of the pack in points allowed and that was mostly due to garbage and experimentation or else would have been closer to top 10. They had 40 sacks and 5 more Saturday. The Ravens had 46. They were also 1st in Turn over diff in the Afc and 3rd in the league. Don't know why a true Pats fan would over look these facts to make a point.
Posted by pezz4pats

What a great post. I'll take it 1step further......we needed the rbs and we needed ras I with the 1st pick!!! Imagine if ras played the entire year, it may have reduced the passing yards allowed and given the whiners less material!!
BB obviously felt he needed secondary help and what do you know he was right.........again!

In Response to Re: I can't believe we didn't draft a pass rusher!! : completely correct, dumb thread here we spent the 33rd pick on an injury risk CB when Ayers was there (perfect if we went with a lot of 4-3) or as said above Brooks Reed (a 3-4 DE/OLB) Matt Roth was also allowed to sign with a crummy team for a pittance when we had him in here just b/c he got a little greedy and asked for an extra 500k??? It's caled bargaining Bill... settle on 250k more and wrap him up. We also should have at least kept Sanders and not held onto Merriweather hoping we could trade him when 31 teams knew we didn't like him, them dump him anyhow after you sacrificed Sanders to make $ for Ellis/Ocho... or EVEN BETTER actually spent some $ that you still had and not let Goldson fly back to San Fran after he met with us over the summer. This team could have Ayers, Roth and Goldson instead of Koutovidas, Tarpinian, and Sergio. Not to mention that a different and better personel at OLB/DE could have made the Carter injury never occur if he wasn't being asked to do so much... and of course we could have used pick #28 on something (Wilkerson, Sheard, Hayward) over Vareen and pick #27 this year... although the jury is still out on that, we didn't pass over a Matthews for Butler/Tate.... yet. Let's not celebrate a 13-3 record and great execution/coaching by claiming the correct decisions were made in the draft and free agency... they were notPosted by rameakap

Please be sure to send in your resume to Mr. Kraft this offseason. I'm sure he'll consider you to take the reigns for next year's draft. Stick to the C's board, please.

Honestly, why are people still b*tching? You make the Patriots fanbase look like a bunch of whiney, spoiled morons. In case some of you pink hats have missed it, WE ARE IN THE AFC CHAMPIONSHIP. The same AFC Championship that we've been in 6 times in the past 11 seasons under BB. Do you really have the balls to sit there and question him and critique him on certain aspects of HIS job? My goodness gracious, get a freaking grip. You aren't a football GM/coach for a reason.

Cheers to the rational fans who appreciate what BB and Mr. Kraft have done for this franchise over the past decade. Let's continue to bask in the success that we've witnessed in the past decade, that most fans never get to witness in a lifetime. Cheers.

Honestly, why are people still b*tching? You make the Patriots fanbase look like a bunch of whiney, spoiled morons. In case some of you pink hats have missed it, WE ARE IN THE AFC CHAMPIONSHIP. The same AFC Championship that we've been in 6 times in the past 11 seasons under BB. Do you really have the balls to sit there and question him and critique him on certain aspects of HIS job? My goodness gracious, get a freaking grip. You aren't a football GM/coach for a reason. Cheers to the rational fans who appreciate what BB and Mr. Kraft have done for this franchise over the past decade. Let's continue to bask in the success that we've witnessed in the past decade, that most fans never get to witness in a lifetime. Cheers.Posted by IrishMob7

How many AFC Championships do you think we would have been in without Brady?

My count with BB and no Brady is 0 for 2 in even making the playoffs much less getting to an AFC Championship.

You might want to chastise the OP for opening this can of "I told you so " worms rather than the goaded respondents.

Here we are 2 wins from another Super Bowl and I just can't stop giggling thinking about all the jumpers from back in April whining about how we didn't draft a pass rusher. The endless threads and bitching at the time was horrendous. I remember starting a few threads of my own trying to shut the whiners up. So what have we all learned? BB not only know more about football then any living human but he knows his team and it's needs.Posted by tcal2-

bb has a crap defense due to his picks. hes a great coach with maybe the best qb going. he is not stellar in the draft. many teams are better. does not mean its not our coach, our players, our team. had we made better picks, this playoff would not be so iffy with our "just another guy" defense".

this year we get another chance frop glory and to draft the players we need to be elite for years (and win a few championships and go down in history)

In Response to Re: I can't believe we didn't draft a pass rusher!! : completely correct, dumb thread here we spent the 33rd pick on an injury risk CB when Ayers was there (perfect if we went with a lot of 4-3) or as said above Brooks Reed (a 3-4 DE/OLB) Matt Roth was also allowed to sign with a crummy team for a pittance when we had him in here just b/c he got a little greedy and asked for an extra 500k??? It's caled bargaining Bill... settle on 250k more and wrap him up. We also should have at least kept Sanders and not held onto Merriweather hoping we could trade him when 31 teams knew we didn't like him, them dump him anyhow after you sacrificed Sanders to make $ for Ellis/Ocho... or EVEN BETTER actually spent some $ that you still had and not let Goldson fly back to San Fran after he met with us over the summer. This team could have Ayers, Roth and Goldson instead of Koutovidas, Tarpinian, and Sergio. Not to mention that a different and better personel at OLB/DE could have made the Carter injury never occur if he wasn't being asked to do so much... and of course we could have used pick #28 on something (Wilkerson, Sheard, Hayward) over Vareen and pick #27 this year... although the jury is still out on that, we didn't pass over a Matthews for Butler/Tate.... yet. Let's not celebrate a 13-3 record and great execution/coaching by claiming the correct decisions were made in the draft and free agency... they were notPosted by rameakap

In Response to Re: I can't believe we didn't draft a pass rusher!! : Not a crystal ball when you spend the weeks before the draft hoping for Ayers and Reed at 33 and watch BB pass over both for a player that everybody crossed their fingers wouldn't get hurt and promptly did Not a crystal ball when the entire board and anyone with any football knowledge thinks that if you are looking to replace Merriweather and Tully Banta-Cain you do it with Roth and Goldson BOTH of who you have in for FA talks and not PRACTICE players like Sergio Brown, Jeff Lockett, Ross Ventrone, Jeff Tarpinian and Niko Koutouvides sigghhhhhPosted by rameakap

forget it rame,

some are football fans with football understanding, others are just good fans.

I have absolutely no complaints about the way the D has been able to pressure the qb (or the way the teams needs were addressed overall) but the only thing it has gotten us is a division title so let's not go patting ourselves on the back just yet.

Here we are 2 wins from another Super Bowl and I just can't stop giggling thinking about all the jumpers from back in April whining about how we didn't draft a pass rusher. The endless threads and bitching at the time was horrendous. I remember starting a few threads of my own trying to shut the whiners up. So what have we all learned? BB not only know more about football then any living human but he knows his team and it's needs.Posted by tcal2-

Give me a freakinn break. We have a long line of high draft busts that prove you are wrong. And I would love for us to have picked a pass rushers instead of taking Shane Veree or Ras-i-Dowling who are both shaping up to be YET MORE high round busts.

In response to "Re: I can't believe we didn't draft a pass rusher!!": What a great post. I'll take it 1step further......we needed the rbs and we needed ras I with the 1st pick!!! Imagine if ras played the entire year, it may have reduced the passing yards allowed and given the whiners less material!! BB obviously felt he needed secondary help and what do you know he was right.........again!Posted by TrueChamp

True,

I agree we needed RB's, so not upset at Vereen and Ridley but, Ras was injury prone in college and we've seen the effect of affective pass rushing. An affective pass rush can reduce the number of passing yards allowed just as much as a CB can. The only difference in this past draft was BB again passed on drafting a pass rusher and took an oft injured CB instead, that's plain and simple. The result has been the worst D (in terms of passing yards allowed) in franchise history. I don't know how you can claim victory over the pick when the end result actually hurt the team more.

Thankfully this team has shown remarkable resilience and is starting to get it's stride but not because of Ras. It's because we've faced second rate QB's, shifting to a cover 2 with McCourty/Moore playing FS, and the front 7 starting to collapse the pocket providing pressure consistently. There is no way to tell if drafting a pass rusher would have affected it but have a consistent pass rush always helps the secondary more then an oft injured player on the bench

Just because somebody has succeeded on another team, does NOT mean that they would have the same success here. Look at Aaron Maybin, sucked on the Bills but found a bit of a groove on the jets. We have plenty of examples of our players that were pretty good but couldn't get it going on another team.

You know what's crazy Tcal, you will probably get krap for this and hear "koolaid drinker" and all that but there are really people out there that believe deep down that anyone who thinks the guy with 5 SB rings and an army of paid professional scouts at his disposal is less qualified to pick players than they are using Internet scouting reports. I'm not talking about guys like Mbileau who like to talk draft but about all the monday morning QBs.Posted by shenanigan

lol, so true shenanigan. It's so easy exposing the whiny pink hatters. They actually think they know more then BB. It's beyond comical reading the posts of these bandwagon Draft Experts.

We are on the verge of winning our 4th Super Bowl this century and personally I feel that's the best Award our Defense, or any Defense for that matter, could achieve.

Here we go again with the anal "I told you so" thread. I suppose that would be nice if you were right. The book on BB the GM is written. He is an average drafter. He is mostly a good trader. He is a mixed bag with FA signings. You may have noticed his QB just tied the all-time record for TD passes in a playoff game. A guy like that makes any GM look good. As far as drafting a pass rusher, people need to get a clue. This D might be showing itself not to be terrible, but it isn't going to win any awards.Posted by BabeParilli

There you go again. Brady is the only reason BB wins games. Never mind that they went a whole season without him (less a few minutes) and went 11-5. Not 2-14 like the Colts. Not 5-11. Not 8-8. 11-5. Guess they got lucky game after game. Starting a QB who not only had never started in the pros but wasn't even the starter in college!

Lets put your rediculous theory to rest.

Check out the O line. Light, Mankins, Koppen, Connolly, Canon, Volmer, Solder. All good to really good. None the very best perhaps. None the best at run blocking or the best at pass blocking (though I think Solder will be all world pass blocker when the day is over). But good at everything. And coachable. And hard workers. And a winning attitude. This is a big part of the team.

Check out the TEs.... nuf said there.

Less strong at WR but Welker is the best at what he does and Branch is still a good player when healthy.

Check out the punter and kicker. Both very good.

Check out some special teams players like Slater... The only less than average aspect to the special teams is the blocking on kick off returns.

THey are building the core of a good D. Vince, Pryor when he comes back, Deaderick, Love, Brace... Mayo, Spikes, Nink, Chung... Maybe McCourty will be a good safety or bounce back at corner. Have to wait to see about Dowling.

Then you have guys like Edelman who are cleary good football players. Nink is in this catergory. Edelman has played some good bump and run. Is a good and dangerous punt returner and has shown some glimpses of being able to play WR. He also has done well on kick off coverage.

And you have a guy like Mallett who could either be a good QB here or another draft pick later.

You can point to draft choices and FA that didnt pan out. SO WHAT. NO ONE hits all the time. And no team seems to combine the consistancy of bringing in talent one way or another.

THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT THE PATS ARE EITHER THE MOST OR ONE OF THE TOP TWO OR THREE TEAMS DEPTH WISE. What happened to the Jets when they lost their center for 2 games? They fell APART. What happened to the Pats when they lost their center for the season???? And then the backup center for two or three games?! The team didnt miss a beat. Depth.... This team has depth. It has players who can be coached. It has players who have the talents which when combined make them a better team than most of their opponents an any given day.

Yes Brady is far and away the key player on this team. But it is a really good team. And having Brady has influenced personnel choices. Your frequent statements that TB is the whole team has been proven wrong (in 2009) and is still wrong. The Pats are not the Colts. Only you think so.

Oh, and bye the way, I did want them to take Reed. And at least at this point I wish they had (instead of Dowling). But maybe Dowling will be that larger CB we need if he can get healthy. SO while I would like Reed I just hope what we got right now is enough.

Here we are 2 wins from another Super Bowl and I just can't stop giggling thinking about all the jumpers from back in April whining about how we didn't draft a pass rusher. The endless threads and bitching at the time was horrendous. I remember starting a few threads of my own trying to shut the whiners up. So what have we all learned? BB not only know more about football then any living human but he knows his team and it's needs.Posted by tcal2-

now all those posters will defend thier position with vigor... as some have in this post... and will even after we win the SB

There were some decent options at 3-4 OLB available this past year, and it was a need, or so we thought. Little did we know that the Pats would be changing their scheme to 4-3 so what we thought they needed (3-4 OLB) became less of a need. All things considered, including the success of the Pats this year, I think they were in position to get someone that could have helped them on the DL this year where they drafted Dowling. But given the emergence of Carter and Anderson, who knows if Sheard, Reed or whomever they would've drafted would have played a lot anyway.

It's ironic that a lot of people thought that the Pats had some nice talent and depth at DB and when they picked Dowling it was a bit of a head scratcher.

Thats who I wanted and for good reason. Best rookie pass rusher since Jevon Kearse and may be the reason the G-Men lose to San Fran and give us a better chance of winning the SB.

I went back and watched the Giants game over and guess what?! Our defense played lights out! It was 0-0 at the half!! Eli has threw up 30 burgers on just about everyone else and conversely, the G-Men also shut us out in the 1st half and made Brady look as bad as Ive seen in a while, so lets hope the Niners can pull it out.

IF we get past the Angry Birds, (i think we will) I would rather face A.Smith and let Brady spread out that Niners defense built to stop the run rather than face those crazy lineman on the Giants who can pressure Brady with 4.

So in short, I guess we should be lucky that San Fran got Aldon Smith, it may be the difference between us winning and losing a SB!

I am really not interested in the opinion of folk with "rightous attitude" like the original poster, but I would be curious how fair-minded folk like Mbedrui or PatsEng or TexPat would grade the Patriots draft over the last five years. Personally, I would be hard pressed to give it a grade higher than C- and they only get that high because they hit the motherlode with Gronk and Hernandez. But there are just far to many Merriweathers, CUnninghams, Braces, Prices, Wheatleys, Chad Jacksons and so on. The original post here is idiotic. Are you seriously telling me you wouldn't trade Vereen, Mallet and NO's pick for JJ Watt right this minute. Any serious football guy would do it in a heartbeat.

In Response to Re: I can't believe we didn't draft a pass rusher!! : How many AFC Championships do you think we would have been in without Brady? My count with BB and no Brady is 0 for 2 in even making the playoffs much less getting to an AFC Championship. You might want to chastise the OP for opening this can of "I told you so " worms rather than the goaded respondents.Posted by BabeParilli

Why do you insist on making everything about Brady? First of all, the only true season BB didn't make it to the playoffs 'without' Brady was his first year here. I think some can pardon him for that after taking over a pitiful roster. Secondly, you're really going to hold BB hostage for not making the playoffs for going 11-5 without his star QB? You can never give credit where credit is due. I never said anything about taking away from Brady. I think Brady is the best QB of all time. But why must make everything about him? I made a case to point out how we should appreciate what we have and to stop b*tching. I appreciate what BB and Kraft have done for us. Hell, they're the reason Brady is here. Nobody is taking anything away from Brady so relax with your man crush.

It's all what ifs and you can't say one way or another how drafting a pass rusher would have affected the team but to simply point to being in the AFCC as a reason not to draft a pass rusher is a absurd premise when the addition of of pass rusher could benefit the team which Anderson is our only consistent pass rusher at this moment.

Agreed. We still could use a pass rusher. We give up too many pass yards to lousy QB's and this puts too much pressure on Brady to win every game himself. It was not a problem against Denver but it could have been a problem vs. teams with elite QB's like NO or GB.